Based on a 16th century fantasy novel, the $60 million “Monkey King” plays at the Cannes Film Festival this year. For the Hong Kong film sector, creating a future with the lucrative Chinese film industry lies in the past.

A product of the Changchun Film Studio, “The Sun” (”Da Tai Yang”) was inspired by stories of the survivors’ psychological struggles after the magnitude-8.0 earthquake in southwestern China’s Sichuan Province on May 12, 2008.

Zhang Yibai to executive produce. Ning Hao is likely to cast students from his recent training program as well as regulars such as Guo Tao, Huang Bo and Liu Hua.

Director He Ping (Wheat, Heaven and Earth, Swordsman in Double Flag Town) seemed to confirm that Tang Wei’s scenes were deleted from Founding of a Party in posts he made on his weibo. He said that her performance was very good and it was pity it was deleted. Not naming her directly, He said that a “little girl” was deleted leading netizens to guess he was referring to Tang Wei. Manfred Wong doubted it though because such instructions could only from the highest levels. If true, the pressure from on high was great or simply she was edited for length as John Woo’s scenes were cut in the previous film. (Sina)

He urged Wong, whom he called “an eternal friend” to settle down as well as “have children soon” because she was getting old…The 51-year-old singer revealed that it was Wong’s father who objected to their relationship as he was worried that Chyi, a rock singer, would become a drifter in the future and would not make a good husband for Wong. Chyi Chin shows off newborn baby girl on micro blog, (CRI)

Leftover women are not only single, but are usually “three-high” too highly-educated, highly-paid and highly independent. Thus they usually have a relatively high standard for their material life. In Hong Kong, there’s the same phenomenon. Men in Hong Kong complain about Hong Kong women being too materialistic and first thing these women ask are their education background, job and salary. It’s like these women are doing target-based sales.

From Wong Kar Wai’s “Days of Being Wild” to Jia Zhangke’s “Unknown Pleasures” and beyond, more than 20 years of aimless Asian youth running amok has lapsed into cinematic cliche. But “Buddha Mountain” finds a narrative drive that still keeps faith with the youthful alienation it’s exploring.

China Lion Film Distribution has struck an exclusive deal with New Video, a North American entertainment distributor and digital content aggregator.

Aiming to handle some 15 Chinese-language films per year, with many of them day-and-date releases with mainland China, China Lion will next distribute the Jin Chen-directed The Warring States on 22 April.

Sun Honglei

Sun Honglei described Warring States as costumed version of Lurk, his hit TV series about spies costarring Yao Chen. (Sina)

Director Hou Liang previewed a 20-minute trailer of Deadly Will yesterday in Beijing.

In 1999, To [Yuhang] became the youngest person in Hong Kong to win the World Wushu Championships at age 18…Find out more about Dennis To’s life after Ip Man, and meet Hong Kong’s latest gongfu babe… former Olympic champion Liu Xuan, Hong Kong’s latest addition to its slew of gongfu babes, about her transition from gymnastics to acting. She plays the wife of martial arts hero Wong Fei Hong in TVB drama Grace Under Fire (2011). (RazorTV)